| Sport: | Women's basketball |
| Year: | 2023–24 |
| Team: | USC Trojans |
| Conference: | Pac-12 Conference |
| Short Conf: | Pac-12 |
| Coachrank: | 6 |
| Aprank: | 5 |
| Record: | 29–6 |
| Conf Record: | 13–5 |
| Hc Year: | 3rd |
| Asst Coach2: | Beth Burns (2nd season) |
| Asst Coach3: | Wendale Farrow (3rd season) |
| Asst Coach4: | Willnett Crockett (1st season) |
| Asst Coach5: | Courtney Jaco (1st season) |
| Champion: | Pac-12 tournament champions |
| Tourney Result: | Elite Eight |
The 2023–24 USC Trojans women's basketball team represented the University of Southern California during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Trojans played their home games at the Galen Center and were members of the Pac-12 Conference. This was the last year the team played in the Pac-12 as they are slated to join the Big Ten Conference. The squad was led by third-year head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. The Trojans finished as 2024 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament champions and made it to the Elite 8. They finished the season with a No. 5 AP ranking and a No. 6 ranking in the Coaches' poll.
USC started off ranked No. 21 in the preseason rankings in both the AP and Coaches Polls. For the final regular season AP poll, they finished in 5th. Although they were picked to finished 6th by the last-ever Pac-12 coaches poll, the team finished tied for second. They earned the 2-seed in the Pac-12 tournament as they held the second tiebreaker over UCLA. In the 2024 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, they earned a 1-seed for the first time since 1986.
The Women of Troy finished the regular Pac-12 season tied for 4th with UCLA and Arizona. Because both of those teams held tiebreakers over USC, the Trojans earned the 6th seed in the 2023 Pac-12 Conference women's basketball tournament.
The squad earned its first bid for the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament since 2014.[1] and its first at-large bid since 2006. Holding an 8-seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament, the Women of Troy fell in overtime in the first round to 9-seeded South Dakota State, 57-62.
Last year's team spent much of the season receiving votes in both polls and made the top 25 once in the AP Poll. In the last AP Poll, they received 3 votes while they no longer received any votes in the final two coaches' polls.[2]
The Women of Troy brought in 2 first-years out of high school, 1 transfer student, and 4 graduate students. 1 student who red-shirted last year is also expected to play this coming season. 6 players from the previous year graduated while 1 transferred and 1 retired.
Regarding coaching staff, Women of Troy alumna Courtney Jaco, who previously served as Director of Player Development and who as a player won the 2014 Pac-12 tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament, was promoted to Assistant Coach.[3] Wilnett Crockett also joined the coaching staff as an Assistant Coach and Recruiting Coordinator. Meanwhile, Nneka Enemkpali joined the Rutgers coaching staff during the off-season.[4]
| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Reason for Departure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koi Love | 0 | F | 6'0" | Junior | Orlando, FL | Retired | |
| Destiny Littleton | 11 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Student | San Diego, CA | Graduated | |
| Bella Perkins | 12 | F | 5'9" | Sophomore | Fairfax, VA | Transferred to Pittsburgh | |
| Madison Campbell | 23 | G | 5'11" | RS Junior | Fresno, CA | Retired for Medical Reasons | |
| Okako Adika | 24 | G/F | 6'0" | Graduate Student | Holstebro, DK | Graduated | |
| Alyson Miura | 25 | G | 5'9" | Senior | Clackamas, OR | Graduated | |
| Kadi Sissoko | 30 | F | 6'2" | Graduate Student | Paris, FR | Graduated | |
| Rokia Doumbia | 52 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Student | Bamako, ML | Graduated |
| Name | Num | Pos. | Height | Year | Hometown | Previous School | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKenzie Forbes[5] | 0 | W | 6'0" | Graduate Transfer | Folsom, CA | Harvard | |
| Dominique Onu[6] | 23 | G | 5'9" | Junior | Los Angeles, CA | UCLA | |
| Kaitlyn Davis[7] | 24 | G/F | 6'0" | Graduate Transfer | Norwalk, CT | ||
| Roxane Makolo | 24 | G | 5'10" | Graduate Transfer | |||
| Kayla Padilla[8] | 45 | G | 5'9" | Graduate Transfer | Torrance, CA | Penn |
Source:[9]
| Name | Overall Rank | Position | Position Rank | Hometown | High School | Height | ESPN Stars | ESPN Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JuJu Watkins | 1 | PG/SG | 1 | Los Angeles, CA | Sierra Canyon | 6'0" | 5 | 98 | |
| Malia Samuels | - | G | - | Seattle, WA | Garfield HS | 5'6" | 4 | 94 |
The Women of Troy brought in the tenth-ranked recruiting class in the country.[10] The incoming squad featured top-ranked high school recruit JuJu Watkins and 49th-ranked Malia Samuels.[11] Redshirt first-year Aaliyah Gayles also played periodically after having sat out the previous season due to injury.[12] Gayles, ranked No. 8 in the country for the class of 2022, was recruited by previous head coach Mark Trakh[13]
|-!colspan=12 style=| Non-conference regular season|-!colspan=12 style=| Pac-12 Conference Regular season|-!colspan=9 style=| Pac-12 Women's Tournament|-!colspan=9 style=| NCAA TournamentSource: USCTrojans.com[14]
This section will be filled in as the season progresses.
Source:
See also: 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball rankings.